American KTM dealers are in Austria this week visiting the mothership in Mattighofen, and to help greet them is the KTM 1290 Super Duke R prototype. Dressed for the occasion though, KTM is calling this one-off Stars & Stripes adorned hooligan machine the KTM 1290 Super Duke R Patriot Edition — ’cause you know, ‘merica!

The name might be a little over the top, but the bike is the visual centerpiece to some good news on the Super Duke front. Debuting a prototype of “The Beast” at last year’s EICMA show, KTM will unveil the final production model at the 2013 EICMA show in Milan, and says that the bike will be on dealer showroom floors in December.

Timing this announcement with the American dealer visit, we can only assume this news includes the American markets as well. Also, KTM says journalists will get a chance to swing a leg over the complete bike in Spain during the autumn — we doubt A&R is included in that statement however. Le sigh.

To help keep the juices flowing over the prototype design, a gallery of the KTM 1290 Super Duke R prototype is below.

Just give me one in Black & Orange, otherwise KTM will have plenty of unsold models in North America in the years to come. What are they thinking?

http://www.asphaltandrubber.com Jensen Beeler

Umm…was it not clear that this is a one-off to welcome the American dealers?

JoeKing

Perhaps H-D will be incensed enough to retaliate with a special Mozart Edition to return the insult…

Slangbuster

Well….it’s not very subtle….is it? Do they feed their paint design staff mushrooms for lunch? They need to stop that. I’ll take one in black though.

Richard Gozinya

The sad part, this thing is far from being the most over the top “Patriot” themed bike. A lot of them make this look downright subtle by comparison.

Richard Gozinya

Oh, and I just realized the song on my stereo is Cake’s “Wheels.”

In a CD karaoke bar By the banks of the mighty Bosphorus Is a Japanese man in a business suit singing “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes” And the muscular cyborg German dudes dance with sexy French Canadians While the overweight Americans wear their patriotic jumpsuits

FranktheTank

Well while everybody seems to be complaining about the paint for some reason ( obviously one off like jenson stated). I have noticed KTM really came through with what I expected them to do with a more production version. The exhaust can is huge but, about what I thought they would put on there. The front headlight looks unique and doesn’t seem to be a part picked up from the KTM parts bin. The subframe seems to keep the same basic shape as the prototype but, has an obviously more comfortable seat that looks nice. I’ve wanted this bike since I seen the prototype for the first time. I’m just stoked that the production version looks about the same. Now hopefully it comes in stealth black. Then I’m completely sold.

good dog

Sorry Jensen, you did correctly identified it as a one-off, my oversight.

Still I would have been more interested in a spy shot of the actual production colours versus a custom painted ‘hooligan’ version.

Jayson

Put that engine on the RC8R. i would like the 1290-RC8R. please!!!

Mitch

Pity about the exhaust, but for conforming to Euro5 it actually looks really good. I like the headlight as well, keeping the small profile is key towards this bike’s visual identity.

paulus

One off or not… it is f’ugly! (and even more resembling the Ducati street fighter)

As a European brand looking to crack the US market, shouldn’t they have called Roland Sands to supply black anodised/machined parts to make it more ‘Merican?